Around The Arts

Paris theater actors' guild protests government plans\nPARIS -- Much of Paris' opera and theater world closed its doors Tuesday, as thousands of artists and musicians took to the streets in a protest against government plans to change their unemployment insurance benefits.\n"Coming soon in theaters nationwide: nothing," proclaimed a banner hoisted in front of the National Opera, where demonstrators gathered before marching to Olympia, another of the capital's cultural centers.\nJean Voirain, the head of the FNSAC-CGT artists' union, said that more than 30,000 people protested. Police, however, put the figure at 8,500.\nVoirain said all of Paris' theaters and many cinemas had canceled their evening shows. Film shooting and movie set construction was halted for the day. Some television stations also pulled programs off the air.\nCallers to the National Opera were simply told that Tuesday night's performance of Goethe's "Faust" would not take place.\nThe government has recently indicated it may change a system enabling performing arts workers to receive unemployment benefits during periods in which they have little work.\nThe move is part of the center-right government efforts to trim social spending in an austerity program aimed at lowering the country's public deficits.\nVoirain said that without the benefits, France's "cultural fabric and diversity would have died long ago."\nScreenwriter Nora Ephron receives achievement award \nNEW YORK -- Screenwriter Nora Ephron is this year's recipient of a lifetime achievement award from the Writers Guild of America, East.\nEphron, who's received Oscar nominations for "Silkwood," "When Harry Met Sally ..." and "Sleepless in Seattle," will be honored during the 55th Annual Writers Guild Awards March 8. Ceremonies will take place simultaneously in New York and Los Angeles.\nEphron, 61, also directed "Sleepless in Seattle" and "You've Got Mail," both starring Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks, as well as "Mixed Nuts" and "Michael."\nThe films nominated for Writers Guild Awards for best original screenplay are "Antwone Fisher," "Bowling for Columbine," "Far From Heaven," "Gangs of New York" and "My Big Fat Greek Wedding."\nIn the adapted screenplay category, the nominees are "About a Boy," "About Schmidt," "Adaptation," "Chicago" and "The Hours."The Writers Guild of America, East, is the East Coast branch of the union representing professional writers in film, television and radio.\nSexual assault victim speaks out on attacker's behalf\nLOS ANGELES -- Filmmaker Roman Polanski's work should be judged on its merits, not on his crime, the victim of a 1977 sexual assault wrote in an op-ed article.\nPolanski, 69, is nominated for a best-director Oscar for "The Pianist." The film, up for seven Academy Awards March 23 including best picture, depicts the Holocaust through the eyes of a Polish pianist who hid from the Nazis.\nPolanski pleaded guilty to a charge of unlawful sex with a minor in 1977 but fled the country while on bail and eventually became a French citizen. He is a fugitive from the United States.\nIn the op-ed article printed in Sunday's Los Angeles Times, Samantha Geimer said Polanski fled to France after a Los Angeles County judge refused to accept a plea bargain arranged by her lawyer, Polanski's attorney and the District Attorney's Office.\n"I don't really have any hard feelings toward him, or any sympathy, either," wrote Geimer, who was 13 in 1977. "But I believe that Mr. Polanski and his film should be honored according to the quality of the work. What he does for a living and how good he is at it have nothing to do with me or what he did to me."\n"The Pianist" won seven French Cesar movie awards Saturday, including best film and best director, and won best film and best director at Sunday's British Academy Film Awards. It was voted best film at Cannes last spring.\nPolanski's films also include "Chinatown" and "Rosemary's Baby"